How did movie palaces bring middle-class audiences to the cinema?

During the 1910s, the rise of the feature film was instrumental in attracting middle-class audiences to the cinema. By adopting a multi-reel format, films could adapt middle-class novels and plays, providing a narrative experience analogous to that of the legitimate theater, which helped make motion pictures more respectable to this demographic.12

To accommodate the more refined standards and expectations of these new viewers, exhibitors replaced small storefronts with large, elegantly appointed theaters known as "dream palaces." These venues offered a level of comfort and fantastic luxuriance that appealed to middle-class sensibilities. Because these theaters required high-quality, elaborate productions to justify premium admission prices, they shifted the industry away from the nickelodeon era, effectively rebranding the cinema as a sophisticated destination for a broader, more demanding audience.12